It seemed like one of The Beatles'
better ideas at the time. Instead of simply paying taxes, why not put all that
spare loot into one overall company to be owned by The Beatles that could do
anything: release records, films, clothes - at one time there was even going to
be an 'apple' school. Despite what documentaries have since made out (and the
Rutles special hasn't helped), Apple was a happy experience at first. All four
Beatles were eager to find an identity outside the group and all of them signed
their own groups to the label as well as producing or playing whenever time
allowed. Also, far from being a folly which Brian Epstein would never have
approved of, their manager was all for it and lived to see the first 'release'
'All You Need Is Love' in mid-1967 (well, a single manufactured by EMI with an
'Apple' logo on it anyway - 'Hey Jude' is the first release made from start to
finish for the new label). A place where the band's friends who'd remained
loyal for years could finally be rewarded (with road manager Neil Aspinall
getting the job at the top) and where new interesting 'hip' artists would
enhance the band's reputation (and where the band could be doing good by
'helping' those from the generation after them): Apple was an idea that ticked
an awful lot of boxes. For a time it was the most successful record label ever
too: two of the label's first four releases (all of which came out on the same
day) made number one - a feat that seems unlikely to ever be equalled ('Hey
Jude' was one and Mary Hopkins' 'Those Were The Days The Other', by the way).
So why an 'apple'? No one wanted anything as boring as just 'The
Beatles' company'. The idea was Paul's. A keen art collector, he'd struck up a
deal with dealer Robert Fraser (later jailed for possession along with Mick 'n'
Keef but not let out when the Stones were) for any painting that would match
his 'tastes' and would pay the next time the pair met. Magritte was one of
McCartney's favourite painters so when a Magritte painting of an apple came along
('Le Jue De More' to give it its proper name, a translation of the 'au revoir'
message written through the fruit), Fraser knew he'd like it. However McCartney
was out that day so, undeterred, he got the housekeeper to let him in and
propped the painting up on a table for him to see. After a busy journey home,
trying to think up a suitable name and logo, Paul saw the image the minute he
opened the door and knew it would be perfect. For a start it's a recognisable
symbol all around the world. For another, it's particularly English ('A is for
apple' is how many of our children's reading books start, although of course
everyone knows the letter really stands for 'Alan's Album Archives'). Thirdly
it enabled the band to slightly differentiate and personalise each record they
released: apples come in all sorts of colours and varieties and so did these
records: some white, some green, some red, one of them (Ringo's 'Blast From
Your Past') in blue, while the Apple 'tradition' was to feature a full unopened
picture of the fruit on the 'A' side and one 'cut in half' on the 'B' side (as
if you'd used half of it up). Finally and fourthly there was also a typically
excruciating pun at the centre of it all: officially the company is registered
as 'Apple Corps', with the second word pronounced by all right minded
businessman as the word 'core'.
However too many people took advantage
of this system, with lots of 'new' friends and even some old ones living off
the company's profits and abusing The Beatles' name (having bought quite a few
fab four records everyone felt entitled). The Beatles weren't exactly stingy
with their cash either and - after years of coaxing Brian for an allowance -
they could now spend what they wanted whenever they needed to (although one
Beatle tended to get at least one other member to sign off larger costs).
Overstretched as 1968 grew on and 'The White Album' grew longer and longer The
Beatles had less and less time for their grand schemes and the label released
less and less by non-Beatle bands into 1969 and beyond. A lot of bands that had
broke through there left anyway, appalled at how easily their own profits were
being sucked up into the band's hedonistic lifestyle. The advert that went out
in early 1968 promising to listen to every tape unsigned bands could send to
them was a victim of its own success: a mountain of tapes grew up without
anyone assigned to listen to them or assess them. A lot of the staff put into
senior positions by way of a 'thankyou' simply weren't right for the job (although
many more did prove their worth over the years). Something had to change and in
1969 that something was a new leader: a figurehead who knew how to cut down
costs and make money for the band again. The real problem with 'Apple' came
with what happens next. Paul wants to hire his new father-in-law Lee Eastman, a
lawyer with a grasp of finances. John wants to hire The Rolling Stones' manager
Allen Klein (who spoke to Lennon out of the blue and impressed with a knowledge
of his songs - by contrast the day John was set to meet Mr Eastman Paul's
in-law was busy and sent his less knowledgeable, younger son - something that
annoyed the hell out of Lennon). John got the backing of George and Ringo and
another old Beatle tradition - that when 3 out of 4 agreed the other had to
join in - kicked in. But Paul was, rightly, concerned with the borderline
illegal aspects of what Klein was doing and the fact that so many of the band's
nearest and dearest were losing their jobs (often through no actual fault of
their own). What had once been a happy bonding experience turned into a sea of
litigation and contracts that deadened the band's enthusiasm for the company
and for each other. In truth, the switch - just weeks after returning from
Rishikesh India - may have been too much and Apple spread itself too thinly,
with fingers in too many pies. However Apple did a lot of good that's often
forgotten so here is a run-down, in chronological order, of what non-Beatle
releases came out on the label between 1968 and 1974 and what Beatle
involvement took place on each. Note, there's only studio albums here - no live
records or compilations although actually there weren't many of either during
Apple's lifetime. Oh and Yoko's getting her own mini-reviews in the Lennon book
so we won't re-produce them here (there's rather a lot of them).
1)
James Taylor: "James Taylor" (December 6th 1968) James Taylor was signed by Paul to
Apple after the guitarist submitted a demo tape to Peter Asher (then head of A
and R at Apple). Taylor was one of the label's bigger finds, although his
career didn't really take off until he left the label, leaving along with Peter
when Allen Klein came into the Beatles' company in 1970. This folky debut is
one of his better records, most famous for hit single 'Carolina In My Mind' and
the song 'Something In The Way She Moves', the title line of which was
'borrowed' (with permission) by George
Harrison as the opening line to his 'Something' (though the two songs are quite
different thereafter)
2)
The Modern Jazz Quartet "Under The Jasmine Tree" (December 6th 1968) A blast from the past, this ensemble
had formed in 1952 but prided themselves on 'label-switching' and made all
sorts of one-off deals throughout the 1960s. This is another, handed to 'Apple'
as a fait accompli and without any real Beatle involvement. One of the rarer
Apple LPs, its never come out on CD and I've never actually heard it.
3)
Mary Hopkin "Postcard" (February 21st 1969) Paul was very much involved in Mary
Hopkin, though, his big hope for Apple. Signed after an appearance on UK TV
show 'Opportunity Knocks', Mary was one of the label's biggest non-Beatle
success stories, scoring three top two hits. The first of these - the number
one 'Those Were The Days' - appears on this LP which was produced by McCartney.
There are too many pre-war standards and way too much Donovan, but some nice
moments too including a rare George Martin song 'The Game'.
4)
Jackie Lomax 'Is This What You Want?' (March 14th 1969) George's big hope for the future was
a fellow Liverpudlian who'd been bordering on success for many years without
quite breaking through. Sadly even with George's help Jackie's career still
didn't amount to much and this actually very promising debut album has been all
but forgotten. Jackie has a great, gruff soulful voice that works particularly
well on ballads like the Beatle-like ballad 'Goin' Back To Liverpool'. The
album's most famous moment, though, is 'Sour Milk Sea', a song George wrote while in India and on which he produces
and plays guitar. It's one of the better songs the Beatles 'gave away' and a
terrific demo version really should have made it to 'Anthology'.
5)
Billy Preston 'That's The Way God Planned It' (August 22nd 1969) Another natural choice for George to
sign was his keyboard-playing buddy, who had recently appeared on 'Get Back'
and was already quite famous after stints in Little Richard's touring band and
three solo records that sold poorly but always got good reviews. The best of
Billy's records, this is an uptempo gospel-flavoured album that's infectious -
especially the hit title track, later sung at George's 'Bangladesh' benefit
shows. George is one of many big name guest stars (others are Keith Richards,
Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker)
6)
The Modern Jazz Quartet 'Space' (October 24th 1969) A sequel that again Apple had little
to do with and is conspicuous by its absence from all Apple re-issuing
programmes. As a concept album about the moon landings with song titles like
'Visitor from Venus' and 'Visitor From Mars', though, it all sounds rather fun!
7)
Badfinger 'Magic Christian Music' (January 9th 1970) Discovered by Beatles roadie Mal
Evans (who is the de facto producer for most of this record), Badfinger were
one of the more successful Apple signings, although their story is a sad tale
full of contractual hold-ups, blown opportunities and suicide. Here, though,
Badfinger sound just like any wide-eyed kids hired by their biggest idols and
given a song by one of them to sing (Paul's 'Come and Get It', reportedly
tossed off demo and all within an hour and a #2 UK hit for the band - although
in retrospect this rather paranoid and nasty song couldn't be further away from
the gentle and epic tone poems the band would go on to write). This album is
also a soundtrack to a film Ringo made with Peter Sellers for Apple Films which
is quite funny, in places, even though only four or so songs are actually heard
in the film.
8)
Doris Troy 'Doris Troy' (September 11th 1970) I hoped for big things from this record. For those who
don't know Doris was a big American soul star of the early 1970s and who was on
the verge of stardom for many years without quite taking off (the closest she
came was with 'Just One Look', a #2 hit for The Hollies in 1964). However this
album doesn't really take off either: the material is generally wrong for
Troy's voice (although a cover of obscure Buffalo Springfield protest song
'Special Care' - with Stephen Stills playing and producing - is more like it!)
George co-wrote and produced a rather flimsy sequence of songs (reportedly made
up on the spot!) , occasionally with Ringo who also drums on the album and
Klaus Voormann who plays bass. His solo song 'You' also started life during
these sessions before being 'borrowed' by Harrison to finish off later. Doris
also recorded a version of 'Get Back' left unreleased at the time but re-issued
on the CD: a hilarious take with George singing a guide vocal and sending up
Paul's song in the process is sadly only available on bootleg! ('Mal, get a
cloth and a glass of orange juice, it's happened again!')
9)
Billy Preston 'Encouraging Words' (September 11th 1970) Billy's second album isn't quite as
interesting as his first although there's actually more of a Beatle presence
and sound on it. George produces again and provides three songs for the album:
the still-exclusive song 'Sing One For The Lord' and previews of two of his
most beloved solo songs: 'All Things Must pass'; and 'My Sweet Lord' (the last
one, played with a real gospel swing, is the moment when George is meant to
have realised what a fine single it might make!)
10)
John Tavener 'The Whale' (September 25th 1970) In case you were wondering what Ringo was up to while
Paul and George were busy, he was off making his own increasingly eccentric
solo albums and taking up an interest in classical music. Composer John
Taverner was by far the biggest name signed to Apple and 'The Whale' (premiered
in 1966) already one of his most famous concert pieces. Amazingly though no one
had thought to ask Taverner to record it until Ringo came along. While absent
from the recent CD re-issue bonanza, the record was re-issued in 1977 on
Starr's own label 'Ring o'Records'.
11)
Badfinger 'No Dice' (November 27th 1970) is a big improvement on their debut, with the band finding
their own identity and now with guitarist Joey Molland in the band giving them
a four-way composing attack. This album's song 'Without You' is arguably the
most famous Apple release not by The Beatles, although it was never chosen as a
single by the band and sadly co-composer Pete Ham didn't live to see it become
a worldwide hit for Harry Nilsson later in the decade. There are better songs
than that, though, including power pop single 'No Matter What' and the moody
'Better Days'. Mal Evans and Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick both produced this
record, which has no actual fab four input.
12)
John Taverner 'Celtic Requiem' (May 14th 1971) Another classical piece organised by Ringo this piece
is actually quite a light and fluffy one by the composer's standards despite
the name: it's not actually a eulogy for anyone but a general piece about lost
childhood featuring children's games and singing.
13)
'The Radna Khrisna Temple' (May 28th 1971) is, if you hadn't already guessed, another one of George's
albums that bizarrely is about the most common Apple LP after 'The White Album'
and 'Abbey Road' courtesy of a 'charity' re-issue at a budget price later in
the decade. This album has been re-issued a few times now, in fact, each time
with a slightly different track listing (while this is the Temple advocates'
only album they released many singles). George produces the whole record but
doesn't play or sing on it. Very hypnotic and surprisingly nice.
14)
Mary Hopkin 'Earth Song/Ocean Song' (October 1st 1971) With Paul so busy, Mary took an age
to release the follow-up to her best-selling album. However a mixture of his
decreasing time and her increasing interest in making music results in a much
more likeable sequel, closer to the folk style that Mary had been brought up to
love. There isn't much of a Beatle connection to this one but you can hear a
rather nice interpretation of Cat Stevens' 'The Wind'.
15)
Badfinger 'Straight Up' (December 13th 1971) Badfinger's masterpiece (and a tie with 'The White
Album' as best Apple album ever) makes the most of the same cast and crew and
philosophy as George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass' album (a good half of
the album is produced by George). Long slow hauntingly beautiful ballads and
some truly poignant lyrics result in a consistent album where nearly every song
is a career highlight and Pete Ham is on especially good form. 'Baby Blue' is
the hit single that should have been, 'Day After Day' the future standard in
waiting and 'Name Of The Game' is one of the most gorgeous songs in my
collection. Proceed straight to HMV, do not pass go...(A full - well fuller -
review appears on the Alan's Album Archives website but, truly, that's all you
need to know for now!)
16)
David Peel and the Lower East Side 'The Pope Smokes Dope' (April 14th 1972) At last, a Lennon discovery. Any fans
of John and Yoko's 'Sometime In New York City' album (there must be some out
there somewhere - mustn't there?!) will love this album, which is full of
provocative lyrics (the title for a start...) and funky streetwise sounds (the
group were discovered busking on New York's streets). 'The Ballad Of New York
City' is, in many ways, a sequel to 'The Ballad Of John and Yoko', relating how
the pair came to live there and that at last you are 'among your people' (which
is very sad given the events of eight years later). The CD re-issue includes
the song 'Amerika' (with Yoko on vocals) and a brief four-minute interview with
Lennon from the David Frost show where he talks about the David Peel band.
17)
Lon and Derrek Von Eaton 'Brother' (September 22nd 1972) More friends of George's who played
on a great number of his early solo records. Buried by Apple's legal problems and
with George's intended production cut short after various legal hassles, the
album deserved better (George even sent a telegram to Allen Klein simply saying
'what the???' when he heard that the label were giving it no publicity
whatsoever). Beatles fans do have some interest though: unable to attend
himself George sent instructions through his old friend Klaus Voormann, who
gets his first production credit for his hard work.
18)
'Elephant's Memory' (November 10th 1972) Another Lennon discovery, this is the band whose retro
50s-style backing on 'Sometime In New York City' divided so many fans. A full
album is probably a bit much and this record always seemed to be missed put
from the usual Apple re-issue programmes. Lennon produced but doesn't play.
19)
Badfinger 'Ass' (November 26th 1973) Finally Badfinger's much-delayed fourth album came out long
after everyone else had stopped caring (in fact by the time this album did come
out Badfinger were already partway through their next album for Warner Brothers
simply titled 'Badfinger'). There are no Beatles connections this time around
and the whole record is something of a step backwards, but Pete's poignant song
'Apple Of My Eye' about his devotion to The Beatles and his upset at how things
turned out is the perfect eulogy for a business empire that had lots of great
ideas but ultimately was something of a failure.
That's
the albums - now for the singles! Don't worry we won't list them all, but a few
key Apple bands never did release full LPs and it would be a shame to miss them
out...
1)
The Black Dyke Mills Band 'Thingumybob/Yellow Submarine' (August 26th 1968) Part of the 'first four' releases by
Apple in the summer of 1968, this release shows just what an eclectic bunch of
records Apple released. This one is a brass band who as well as covering a
Beatles song on the flipside get an entirely unreleased McCartney song for the 'A'
side, a short but jolly little tune that would have sounded at home on Pau's
soundtrack for the 'Family Way'.
2)
Brute Force 'The King Of Fuh/Nobody Knows' (May 16th 1969) This single should have been big -
John and George both picked out of the pile of records sent in unsolicited to
Apple and the latter produced the strings overdubbed onto the original demo.
Brute Force - aka Singer Stephen Freidland - rather cheekily got around the
radio airplay ban on swearing with the chorus 'There was a king of Fuh, everyone
called him the 'Fuh King'. You can imagine Lennon falling off his seat at that
one! Sadly censorship boards didn't admire this song's cleverness and simply
banned it anyway! The B-side is a nice slice of paranoid psychedelia in the Syd
Barrett fringe too - all in all a very under-rated release.
3)
Trash 'Golden Slumbers-Carry That Weight/Trash Can' (September 26th 1969) Far from being rubbish, this cover of
part of the Beatles' Abbey Road medley was useful publicity for the fab four -
it came out the same day as the LP and helped them get a tiny piece of extra
airplay. The B-side's quite fun too, an atonal prog rock epic in several parts.
4)
The Hot Chocolate Band 'Give Peace A Chance/Living Without Tomorrow' (October
10th 1969) This one's an
interesting one - yes this is the same band as the one who later (much much
later) have a hit record with 'You Sexy Thing'. Few people know that their
first release was for Apple where, very cleverly, the band decided to cover a
Lennon song in the hope that he'd like it and release it (which he did).
However, how closely Lennon listened to this new version is a moot point: about
halfway through this cover changes gears and starts to become a diatribe
against drugs ('Ever seen a funky junkie son? Childish!') Given that this is
Lennon's biggest year for drug-taking I'm surprised it got past John! (perhaps
he was just pleased they didn't cover one of Paul's?!)
5)
Ronnie Spector 'Try Some, Buy Some/Tandori Chicken' (April 16th 1971) Appearing a full year before the song
appeared on George's 'Living In The Material World' album, this is Harrison
trying out a new idea with his producer Phil Spector's wife Ronnie. In truth
she's not cut out for the song and the Harrison/Stephen Stills jam on the
B-side is truly awful despite the in-jokes ('I told Mal, my old pal...') but this is interesting for fans of that album
to compare.
6)
Bill Elliott and the Elastic Oz Band 'God Save Oz/Do The Oz' (July 7th 1971) Released on Ringo's 31st birthday,
this is Lennon rushing to the aid of a subversive underground magazine called
'Oz' facing closure after a court case on obscenity charges (think 'Private
Eye' if you're British). Sadly Lennon rushed a little too quick and neither
composition - designed to rake in lots of money - is that successful on any
level. The A-side features some funny Lennonisms though ('Let us fight for
Mickey Mouse!' he adds apropos of nothing after a verse about standing up for
your rights), while the B-side is a rather tuneless jam with the only lyrics
coming from the title shouted over and over. Lennon plays and produces these
recordings, but more interesting to fans will be the 'Lennon Anthology' box set
which features versions of both these two tracks).
7)
Ravi Shankar 'Joi Bangla/Oh Bhaugowan/Raga Mishri' (August 27th 1971) Appearing surprisingly late in this
list, here is the only time George's friend Ravi Shankar released any music on
Apple under his own name (although he appears on the various artist Bangla Desh
concert of course). This three-track single is very much in Shankar's usual
style - if you like that sort of thing you'll love it; if not you'll hate it!
8)
Chris Hodge 'We're On Our Way/Supersoul' (June 9th 1972) Not much is known about this Marc
Bolan soundalike who might have scored a hit with this poppy A side had Apple
been better placed to promote it. Chances are it's Ringo who discovered him,
given that he was working on his own T Rex film 'Born To Boogie' in this
period, although interestingly it very much doesn't sound like his playing but
does sound a little like George's. There was also a follow-up, 'Goodbye Sweet
Lorraine', that sadly I've never heard.
9)
The Sundown Playboys 'Saturday Nite Special/Valse De Soleil Coucher' (October
31st 1972) I've not even
been able to find this one and can't tell you anything about what it's like!
As a postscript, the busy Beatles year
of 2009 saw the re-release of many of these albums on CD for the first time,
complete with bonus tracks in many cases as well as a whole run of best-ofs for
many of the artists as well as a general one titled 'Come and Get It' that
featured all the best-selling non-Beatle singles gathered together in one
place. However half the fun of these albums is of hearing the even more obscure
forgotten releases that are still waiting for that first CD release...
